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1000 BCE
First Evidence of Fingerprint Usage
Fingerprints were used on official documents. They were used like a signature in places like ancient Babylon, China, Nova Scotia, and Persia. -
Fingerprint Patterns Discovered
A professor at the University of Bologna, in Italy, named Marcello Malpighi noticed that fingerprints had common patters. Loops, whorls, arches, and ridges seemed to make up most fingerprints. -
No Two Are The Same
A scientist in India named William Herschel began using fingerprinting as a way to make natives "sign" a contract. After several contracts, he began noticing that no two fingerprints were the same; and fingerprints could be used for identification purposes. -
Identifying People With Fingerprints On Objects
A doctor in Tokyo became very interested in fingerprinting. Dr. Henry Faulds used fingerprints to identify who had left a stray bottle lying around. He matched fingerprints left on the bottle with a laboratory worker. -
Fingerprints Used To Solve Crime
Using a bloody fingerprint left on a doorframe, police in Argentina were able to identify a murderer. During the same year, certain police groups started keeping fingerprint files. -
Fingerprints On File
Paris police began keeping fingerprints of criminals on file. After a murder was committed, police found a fingerprint at the scene and compared it against their files; they were able to identify the killer. -
FBI Begins Using Fingerprints
The Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the fingerprinting in America. By 1971 they had over 200 million fingerprints on file. -
Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems
The advancement in technology, programs began using Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems. The AFIS's scanned and stored fingerprints electronically. -
Fingerprinting Children
Law enforcement groups saw the need to fingerprint children as a means of identifying kids who became lost, or went missing. Chris Migliaro founded Fingerprint America for this purpose. -
Easy Access To Fingerprints Across The Globe
The FBI began transferring their fingerprint file to an electronic system. Millions of criminal fingerprints are now stored across the globe.
